Playing the Past

Zach Whalen And Laurie N. Taylor

Description

Playing the Past brings together a group of interdisciplinary scholars to examine the complementary notions of history and nostalgia as they are expressed through video games and in gaming culture. The scope of these related concepts moves from the personal to the cultural, and essays in this collection address video game nostalgia as both an individual and societal phenomenon, connecting the fond memories many of us have of classic gaming to contemporary representations of historical periods and events in video games. From Ms. Pac-Man and Space Invaders to Call of Duty and JFK: Reloaded, the games many of us have played since childhood inform how we see the world today, and the games we make and play today help us communicate ideas about real world history. By focusing on specific games, historical periods and media ecologies, these essays collectively take an in depth look at the related topics of nostalgia for classic gaming, gaming and histories of other media, and representations of real history in video games.

Sujets

• Social History
• Media Studies
• Histoire
• History

Informations

• Publié par: Vanderbilt University Press
• Date de parution: 17 octobre 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780826592460
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

playing the past h i s t o r y a n d n o s t a l g i a i n v i d e o g a m e s

E D I T E D B Y Zach Whalen Laurie N. Taylor

Playing the Past

Playing the Past Hîstory and Nostalgîa în Vîdeo Games

Edîed by Zac Waen and Laurîe N. Tayor

Vanderbilt University Press • Nashville

©  by Vanderbilt University Press Nashville, Tennessee 37235 All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Playing the past : history and nostalgia in video games / edited by Zach Whalen and Laurie N. Taylor. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8265-1600-8 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8265-1601-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Video games. 2. Video games—Psychological aspects. 3. Video games—Study and teaching. I. Whalen, Zach, 1979– II. Taylor, Laurie N., 1978– GV1469.3.P483 2008 794.8—dc22 2007051878

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Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments vii

Playing the Past: An Introduction 1 Laurîe N. Taylor and Zach Whalen

Part ï. Payînginthe Past Negotiating Nostalgia and Classic Gaming 2 Why Old School Is “Cool”: A Brief Analysis of Classic Video Game Nostalgia 19  Sean Fenty 3 Homesick for Silent Hill: Modalities of Nostalgia in Fan Responses toSîen Hî 4: he Room 32  Natasha Whîteman 4 Playing the Déjà-New: “Plug it in and Play TV Games” and the Cultural Politics of Classic Gaming 51  Matthew Thomas Payne 5 Hacks, Mods, Easter Eggs, and Fossils: Intentionality and Digitalism in the Video Game 69  Wm. Ruin Baîley 6 Screw the Grue: Mediality, Metalepsis, Recapture 91  Terry Harpold

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Part ïï. Payîngandthe Past Understanding Media History and Video Games 7 Unlimited Minutes: Playing Games in the Palm of Your Hand 111  Sheîla C. Murphy 8 Visions and Revisions of the Hollywood Golden Age and America in the irties and Forties: Prînce o PersîaandCrîmson Sîes 126  Andrew E. Jankowîch 9 Toward a New Sound for Games 145  Thomas E. Gersîc 10 Remembrance of ings Fast: ConceptualizingNosagîc-Pay in theBaesar Gaacîca164Video Game  Anna Readîng and Colîn Harvey

Part ïïï. Payîngwiththe Past Nostalgia and Real History in Video Games 11 Just Less an Total War: Simulating World War II as Ludic Nostalgia 183  James Campbell 12 Performing the (Virtual) Past: Online Character Interpretation as Living History at Old Sturbridge Village 201  Scott Magelssen 13 Documentary Games: Putting the Player in the Path of History 215  Tracy Fullerton 14 Of Puppets, Automatons, and Avatars: Automating the Reader-Player in Electronic Literature and Computer Games 239  Robert P. Fletcher  Contributors 265

Index 271

Preface and Acknowledgments

It is now seven years since Espen Aarseth declared 2001 to be “year one” of computer game studies, and while this nascent, interdisciplinary eld has seen its share of vigorous debate, studying games remains an increas- ingly rich and important intellectual endeavor. Whether one considers the so-called ludology v. narratology debates to be over, or ever to have taken place to begin with, this collection seeks to oer something dier- ent by discussing a specic set of ideas emerging from a central question: what do video games have to do with history, memory, and nostalgia? Rather than discussing how best to study video games or invoking video games as a generic metaphor, the authors in this collection put a variety of approaches into practice, reecting the strengths of their respective disciplines, in order to unpack the complex negotiations of temporality and historical representation in games and gaming culture.  e present volume is the product of a conversation that began at the rst game studies conference at the University of Florida in 2005. At this relatively small gathering, a diverse group of scholars met to discuss video games and nostalgia, and found surprising and deep interplay among our respective ideas and approaches. e result, this collection, encapsulates a broad and expanded conversation into a cogent statement that video games help us think about history and nostalgia in profound and impor- tant ways.  A note on terminology: throughout this collection, authors use the termsvîdeo game,vîdeogame,compuer game, anddîgîa gameto refer generally to the same kinds of objects. ere are signicant shades of meaning among these terms, and it may well be the case that selecting one term over the others may (consciously or not) predispose a given argument to certain assumptions. e prexvîdeois, perhaps, technically less accurate or inclusive than it may once have been, and evendîgîamay not be a universal descriptor if one traces the prehistory of modern video games to include their analog and mechanical predecessors. It might be argued thatcompuersatises the universality requirement, since some

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Playîng the Past

form of computation is nearly always involved in the phenomenon we’re discussing, but since that term is oen used (in the United States) to dis- tinguish games made for personal computers from console-based games, compuer gamesmay not always correctly denote the same objects for dif- ferent readers. Whilevîdeo gamesis arguably the most widely recognized of the terms in question, the decision of whether to separate the two or use the neologismvîdeogamebrings up another set of questions and pos- sible assumptions. For example, in a comment thread ongameoogy.org, Ian Bogost defends his use ofvîdeogamein his bookUnî Operaîonsby arguing that he does so for rhetorical reasons: “Separating the words, in my opinion, suggests that videogames are merely games with some video screen or computer attached.” Jesper Juul, on the other hand, compares Google results to argue that he usesvîdeo gameinHa-Reabecausevîdeo gameis used far more frequently and is thus already the accepted stan- dard (“Videogames”). For the purposes of this collection, we have le the terminology up to each individual author, and although the term each author uses may betray regional, disciplinary, or rhetorical preferences, the reader should generally assume thatvîdeo game, vîdeogame,compuer game, anddîgîa gameare interchangeable.  A book like this does not come into existence without the help and encouragement of many dierent people. e editors would like to thank, rst of all, our contributors whose dedication and hard work in rening their chapters made this possible. Also, we’d like to thank Terry Harpold for reviewing dras of our chapter, and Donald Ault for his advice and encouragement through the whole process. Finally, Betsy Phillips at Van- derbilt University Press deserves all of our thanks and appreciation for her enthusiasm for the project and her unending patience with two rst- time editors.

— Zach Whalen and Laurie N. Taylor,Edîors

Works Cîted Aarseth, Espen. “Computer Game Studies, Year One.”Game Sudîes: he ïnernaîona Journa o Compuer Game Researc(www.gamesudîes.org). 1.1 (2001). Accessed 27 June 2007. “Videogames or Video games—What Are We Talking About?” Comment thread at gameoogy.org(2 December 2006). Accessed 27 June 2007.

Playing the Past